The French Revolution figures among those momentous periods about which memoralistes and other authors have written at great length. Each has wished to pay tribute to this « fatal Revolution»,which fascinated themasmuch as unsettled them. Certain among these texts have become classics ; others have remained only unpublished manuscripts still awaiting their happy discovery. The particular preoccupation here is to investigate an specific emotion – that of fear, a sentiment present in a large sampling of celebrated no less than obscure writings. What meaning can one give to this emotion, and what role exactly should it be assigned in the text—that of a impetus to action, or, conversely, that of a potent restraint condemning persons to inaction ? The analysis of this impulse to bear witness, and the reasons for expressing an emotion have led to an inquiry that is ultimately centered on the collective and individual experience of fear. It is a matter here of understanding the power of emotions ranging from anxiety to panic in the heat of action.